President Donald Trump congratulated Robert Francis Prevost after his election as pope Thursday, making him the first American-born pontiff in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.
Prevost, 69, of Chicago, will be known as Pope Leo XIV.
“It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country,” the president wrote.
“I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!”
Prevost was chosen on the second day of a papal conclave in Vatican City. The cardinals’ selection of the successor to Pope Francis, who died on April 21 at age 88, was revealed by white smoke billowing from a chimney atop the Sistine Chapel.
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